Tag: Crime

The movie adaptation of 50 Shades of Grey by author E.L. James swept its opening weekend competition and has generated blockbuster revenues of over $133 million, making it the top grossing movie of 2015. Controversy has come with it, as would be expected from any movie breaking through traditional cultural taboos. Combine that with...Read More »

As tech CEOs gather with President Obama and other government officials at today’s White House Cyber Summit at Stanford University, it is important for entrepreneurs to keep in mind who they are breaking bread with. A case in point: Charlie Beck, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), wrote a letter recently to...Read More »

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) publishes statistics on police-involved homicides, while on duty, of civilians. Its system relies on voluntary self-reporting by the nation’s more than 18,000 local and state police agencies. Self-reporting works well when there is an incentive to report and an incentive to report accurately. But police departments have no...Read More »

Prostitution is known as “the world’s oldest profession.” Indeed, as far back at the 18th century B.C., the Code of Hammurabi contained provisions regarding rules and protection for sex workers. “Sacred prostitution,” or sex associated with religious worship, occurred in many ancient societies and is well-documented. Over time, however, the sex industry has come under increased regulation....Read More »

This Christmas I flew out of town with my fiancé to see his family. Since we’d be out of town for several days, I checked a bag with the airline. We arrived to our destination without any fuss and drove to see his family. As I went to my bag to retrieve some things before bed,...Read More »

By Robert Higgs | Monday December 29, 2014 at 12:57 PM PST | Comments Off

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who will guard the guards themselves? Do not fret, mis amigos. Our guardians have already made ample provision for guarding themselves. They have, among other upstanding actions, appointed ombudsmen, established offices of inspector generals, enacted the Administrative Procedure Act, and created internal affairs divisions in police departments. So, as anyone...Read More »

The Senate Committee on Intelligence has finally released its study on the CIA’s “Enhanced Interrogation Program” (what may be called “torture techniques” by some) after a delay of more than a year. The report is some 525 pages. (You can access the entire report here.) The findings of the report are appalling. Here are...Read More »

Several years ago, I wrote an article for The Independent Review on the urban riots of the 1960s (and the Rodney King riot of 1992). Watching the events unfold in Ferguson, it seems those in charge of riot control learned nothing. Once again, the victims were small business owners—many of them African Americans (as...Read More »

When people think of meth labs, it usually conjures images of run down houses or trailers in “anywhere” America, chocked full of cooking equipment, cleaners, other chemicals, men in HAZMAT suits, and the “cooks” of the operation sitting in the back of a squad car. But this narrative of the “American meth lab” may...Read More »

By Carl Close | Wednesday November 12, 2014 at 10:45 AM PST | Comments Off

For elected officials eager to find a real problem to fix, here’s a big one that’s seldom mentioned during campaign season: American courts and prisons are plagued with injustices and inefficiencies. One of the main culprits, according to Independent Institute Senior Fellow Bruce L. Benson, is their guiding principle: an emphasis on offenses against...Read More »

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